The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-12-28
BUTTERFLIES.
A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF
THE WINGED INSECTS.
A Room in q New York Broker
House which Contains 1OO,-
900 Butterflies Collect
ed at q Great Cost.

There are butterflies that sail grace
fully through space within the bounda
ries of New York State that are wort
$40 apiece. Think of that, ye home
less tranps. Go catch dozen, and thel
take them to Bcrthold Neumoegen, an.
he will give shekels for them, for he j
desperately enamored of butterfly crea
ton. and has given US much as $160 fo
single specimen of the gauzy creatures
Mir. Neumoegen is member of the New
York Stock Exchange. In the top stor,
of his house is room which contain
100, 900 butterflies and 100, 900 pins, fo
every butterfly in Mr.. Neumoegen's col
lection is defunct, and is impaled upon
pin.
None but those who have seen hun
dred thousand butterflies, each of then
differing from the other in some particu
lar considered important by science, cal
have the faintest conception of the won
derful beauty of many of these most
delicate creations of nature. Nothing
in art can approach them in delicacy o.
texture, or is to be compared to them il
coloring. Some of the rarer specimens
exhibit marvellous combinations of colo:
and are so surprisingly beautiful that no
description could do them justice. There
are Just two collections in the world thai
can compare with that owned by Mr.
Neumoegen. One is possessed by thu
British Museum in London, and the
other is found in public institution in
Paris. Mr.. Neumoegen has been collect.
ing butterflies for twenty years, and his
hobby has cost him $50, 900 in money,
to say nothing of the value of the time
he has devoted to the pursuit or without
calculating the daily expense entailed by
the collection and the reputation it has
gained for its possessor. Two men are
almost constantly employed in receiving
and shipping specimens, for butterfly
collectors are continually exchanging
specimens. One day last week Mr..
Neumoegen shipped to single collector
in Europe, by the steamship Saale, co.
900 butterflies. He generally keeps in
stock about 100, 900 specimens for pur-
poses of exchange, and these are exclu-
sive of his collection, not one of which
he would dispose of unless he felt GER
tain of being able to replace it.
When the King of Belgium sends an
expedition into Africa Broker Neumoegen
takes share in the enterprise. HIS
correspondent in Belgium gives him an
idea Of the character of each member of
the expeditionary force. This enables
him to select the best man for his
purpose, and the selection having been
made and terms agreed upon, the butter
fiy collector patiently awaits results.
His emissary will devote all his spare
time to securing specimens of all the
butterflies in the country visited, and
will ship them at his convenience.
Generally the captives are packed in a
triangular bit of paper and then put into
o cigar box or something like it and sent
by mail. Specimens have been seven
months on the road, and upon their
receipt are not always in the freshest
condition. Now every butterfly in MIR.
Neumoegen's collection is perfect. How
is this result attained2 In what are
mistakenly termed the good old days the
specimens were placed on wet sand until
they were in "rela ed" condition. Mr..
Neumoegen has invented process
which he believes to be vast improve
ment over the old style, and the condi-
ton of his collection proves that his
belief is we'll founded. He places newly
received specimens in q small tin box.
The latter is provided with cork
bottom. The cork is dampened and the
temperature and moisture is controlled
by O pipe that connects the interior OF
the box with the outside air. In four
weeks the.most hardened specimen has
never failed to respond favorably to this
mode of treatment When the specimens
have become sufficiently relaxed they
are placed upon spreading boards.
These boards are from three inches to
three feet in width and all of them have
a groove in the centre. Into this groove
the bodies tit. The wings and feelers
are spread upon fiat surface, and FIVE
pins are inserted into different portions
of the insect. Then glass or tin weights
are placed upon the specimens, and when
these are removed the butterflies, with
few exceptions, exhibit all the beauties
of their natural state.
The great African explorer, Living.
stone, has furnished Mr.. Neumoegen
with some of his rarest butterflies.
Others have been furnished by Stanley,
others again by Lieutenant Schwatka
and members of the Greely relief expedi-
ton; in fact, his collection has been en-
richcd throug gh the efforts of some mem
Der of every exploring expedition that
has been organized within the past fif-
teen years. In his collection arc butter
flies that refused to freeze on the shores
of Lady Franklin's Bay, within 500 miles
of the north pole; that have disported
themselves on Greenland's icy mountains
and India's coral strand. Others lazily
flew from flower to flower on the banks
of Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria Ny
ANA. Gorgeous-hued victims were
captured near the headwatcrs of the
Amazon. Borneo and Labrador. Thibet
and Alaska. China and Siberia. TuTkestan
and Kamschltka have furnished. their
contingent; so have the llimalayas, the
Rocky Mountains and the Alps.
Some Of the butterflies in this army OF
100, 900 are so small that several of them
wouldn't incommOde an ordinarily sensl-
tive optic, while others measure seven
teen iut hes from tip to tip of their
,.;,r. ,u1 those look bio enough to